Ruth Brown

By TODD EVERETT

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Ruth Brown (Cinegrill; 120 seats; $ 20 cover)
 
Band: Bobby Forrester, Bill Easley, Gregg Skaff, Richard Reid, Akira Tana. Opened,
 

TX:Promoted inhouse. reviewed July 17, 1996; closes July 28. She was billed as "Miss Rhythm" in the ' 50s, when she was helping put Atlantic Records into the history books, but R&B singer -- and Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame inductee -- Ruth Brown was in the mood for balladS at Wednesday night's Cinegrill opening. Brown's lengthy set was ballad-heavy, beginning with opener "Over the Rainbow" and concluding with special lyrics to "Always on My Mind." Only three of Brown's uptempo early-'50s hits were included: "Teardrops From My Eyes,""5-10 -15 Hours" and "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean," all recast into an attractively bluesier frame than the original records.

TX:Also included were lesser Brown ballad hits "Have a Good Time" and "What a Dream"-- the latter, she said, written for her on a brown paper bag by Chuck Willis, but immediately covered with far greater commercial success by Patti Page.

TX:Standards included "I'm Just a Lucky So-and-So" (Mack David/Duke Ellington) and "Love Letters," as a tribute to Ketty Lester, who brought Dick Haymes' 1941 hit to the Top Five in 1962. The obscure "I Know Why (and So Do You)," a Mack Gordon/Harry Warren number from 1941's "Sun Valley Serenade," was dedicated to a friend in the audience who had worked with the film's co-star, Sonja Henie.

TX:Brown's delivery resembles that of Dinah Washington more than ever on the ballads, and she's affecting a bit of a yodel that goes a long way -- picked up, she revealed rather puzzlingly, on a recent tour with Bonnie Raitt. Also, she seems to have been taking "slow" lessons from Jimmy Scott. It's Ruth Brown, but the powerful singer is still capable of finding new ways of expressing herself.

TX:Backing band was adequate; tenor saxophonist Bill Easley and keyboardist-leader Bobby Forrester (with the singer 21 years) more than that.

Wednesday, the singer was in higher-than-usual spirits, having just learned that Alan Arkush will direct her life story in a project being developed for Showtime. However, she joked that at the age of 68, "I'm even too old to play my mother."